


Somehow We Always End Up Here

by viennasunrise (kteaanne)



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, I swear, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7072036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kteaanne/pseuds/viennasunrise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The test results have finished, sir.”</p><p>“Volume, J,” Tony said, wincing at the sound. Maybe things were a lot worse than he realised if listening to JARVIS was going to exacerbate his headache. </p><p>“My apologies, sir,” JARVIS said softly, “You appear to be suffering from an unintended side effect of the Power Cosmic. I cannot isolate the virus but it seems to be attacking your circulatory system, sir.”</p><p>Tony groaned. The news wasn’t entirely unexpected; given his symptoms it made perfect sense that whatever it was, was going to attack his weakest point. If you thought about it, it was the perfect bookend to his tenure as Iron Man. The heart condition he suffered post-Afghanistan made him Iron Man and being Iron Man ultimately gave him a lovely new heart condition he wasn’t sure he could cure. He leaned forward, suddenly overwhelmed with the weight of it all, and dropped his head into his hands. </p><p>“At its current rate your heart will be unable to survive longer than six months."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somehow We Always End Up Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teaberryblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaberryblue/gifts).



> This fic was made possible by both the art inspiration courtesy of Tea (GO CHECK OUT HER [MASTER POST](http://teaberryblue.tumblr.com/post/145335908729/oh-hey-in-addition-to-my-own-rbb-fic-i-did-some)!) and the beta work done by imafriendlydalek. :) Thank you both!!!!!!!!!
> 
> This takes place just after S1:Ep 22 "Guardians and Space Knights". If you haven't seen it all you need to know is that Tony took the Power Cosmic and lead Galactus away from the Earth, saving billions of lives but freaking out the rest of the team in the process.

**April 8**  
It had been two days since Tony saved the world again; two days since Galactus had come to try and devour the Earth and failed. At first, Tony figured everything was fine. The Avengers had done each of their jobs spectacularly well and, to some extent, it boosted Tony’s hopes that they would actually manage to catch the Cabal before they managed to fully utilize the Tesseract.

Tony’d been exhausted when they finally made it back to Avengers Tower. If he’d had his way he would have spent a full 48 hours locked in his room with Steve, the rest of the world be damned. But, of course, the universe had other ideas. He and Steve had just enough time to shower off and crawl into bed to hibernate for the foreseeable future when Fury called with information on the Cabal and Steve volunteered to take care of it.

In Steve’s absence, Tony found himself spending far too much time down in the lab, working on the armor and, generally, trying to distract himself from feeling useless. The Stark Probability Engine had failed spectacularly—directly leading to the creation of the Cosmic Skull. He was elbow deep in a new program, something that would be able to adapt to human intuition, when it happened.

The tingling sensation started off slowly; at first Tony thought he might have pinched a nerve or had been sitting in the same position for too long so he stood up and stretched, trying to work the kinks out of his neck. The sensation didn’t die off, but Tony had learned a long time ago to ignore little things like that—like needing to eat—so he shrugged it off and went back to work.

Eventually JARVIS alerted him that it had been a full 36 hours since he had slept, a time limit he and Steve made during the first week of their relationship, and he packed it up for the night. He managed to make it all the way to the penthouse before the pain in his arm became overwhelming, almost like his veins were on fire, and he realized something was very, very wrong.

So he found himself sprawled out behind the desk in his office, hopped up on more painkillers than he probably should have taken, waiting for JARVIS to finish the litany of tests he’d done on himself.

“The test results have finished, sir.”

“Volume, J,” Tony said, wincing at the sound. Maybe things were a lot worse than he realised if listening to JARVIS was going to exacerbate his headache.

“My apologies, sir,” JARVIS said softly, “You appear to be suffering from an unintended side effect of the Power Cosmic. I cannot isolate the virus but it seems to be attacking your circulatory system, sir.”

Tony groaned. The news wasn’t entirely unexpected; given his symptoms it made perfect sense that whatever it was, was going to attack his weakest point. If you thought about it, it was the perfect bookend to his tenure as Iron Man. The heart condition he suffered post-Afghanistan made him Iron Man and being Iron Man ultimately gave him a lovely new heart condition he wasn’t sure he could cure. He leaned forward, suddenly overwhelmed with the weight of it all, and dropped his head into his hands.

“At its current rate your heart will be unable to survive longer than six months,” JARVIS continued, displaying the results of the blood work along with approximated charts of how the virus would effect him in the coming months. “Sir, I believe this is the kind of information you agreed to disclose to Captain—,”

“No!” Tony interrupted, surprised by how rough his voice sounded, “No, J. We’re not telling him. Steve has enough going on right now with the Cabal. I’m not piling on.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony sighed, wishing there was an easier way to deal with this than to just not tell Steve. They’d made an agreement, when they’d decided to try being together, not to keep important things like this from each other. Not that they’d made a special “you have to tell me if you’re dying from an alien virus” clause to the agreement, but this probably fell under the “no life-altering secrets” section.

Maybe if they hadn’t fallen together all those months ago this would be easier to process; maybe if Tony didn’t know he’d be abandoning Steve he could deal with his imminent death with dignity. Maybe he could have been glad that he died saving the world; at least he would know his debts had been repaid. But dying now meant leaving Steve behind and it was the thought of that, more than knowing he was powerless to do anything about the virus, that brought tears to his eyes. Steve deserved better.

“Shut it down, J. We’ll discuss options later.”

He found Steve asleep on their bed, a book sprawled out over his chest. His hair had started to grow a little long and flopped down over his forehead while he slept. Tony settled down gently on the bed next to him, brushing the hair off his forehead and revelled in the peacefulness of the moment. Steve’d been busy working with the team and SHIELD trying to track down the Cabal and running himself ragged in the process. Tony hadn’t seen him look so relaxed in days.

He leaned over and kissed Steve gently on the cheek and was pulling away to go shower when Steve grabbed his wrist.

“Hey,” Steve smiled, “I missed you today.”  
Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath, stomping down the panic that threatened to overtake him.

“Yeah,” he said, resting his forehead against Steve’s, “me too. How are things going?”

Steve groaned and sat up, dropping the book onto the bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, which Tony had a hard time not finding adorable, and yawned.

“We still don’t know where the Cabal’s hiding out. Any leads we had dried up while we were dealing with Galactus so we’re basically starting from square one again. Natasha thinks some of her contacts might have some leads, so she took off yesterday for Europe and won’t be back until she has something useful.”

Tony set a hand on Steve’s knee and squeezed. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I—I wish there was more I could do.”

“Tony, what happened with Galactus isn’t your fault,” Steve smiled softly, “And losing track of the Cabal isn’t either; you look like you’re torturing yourself.”

Tony cleared his throat. This was getting dangerously close to territory he wasn’t willing to talk about. “I know, I’ve just been working on the SPE. I don’t want to scrap the whole thing but we all saw how well things went last time we used it.”

Steve sighed, reaching out for Tony and pulling him close to his chest. “We’ve talked about this, babe. Stop blaming yourself. Please? You look like you need to sleep for a week.”

Tony let out the breath he was holding, letting himself melt into Steve’s chest. Things weren’t okay by a long shot but he could let the two of them have this moment; this one last chance at peace before the inevitable fall-out Tony knew was coming. He tucked his head under Steve’s chin, wrapped his arms around the other man’s waist, and relaxed as best he could.

Steve kissed his hair, humming contentedly as he wound his arms tight around Tony. “I love you, Tony,” Steve whispered.

Tony sighed. Letting Steve love him was going to be a problem, but he was selfish and exhausted and couldn’t bring himself to care. He turned in Steve’s arms, pulling himself up level with Steve’s face and stared at him for a long while. Steve’s eyes had been the first thing Tony’d fallen in love with, before he realized exactly how he felt about the blond. They were the perfect shade of blue and now, now that everything was falling apart and Tony most likely had less than six months to live, he wished he could lose himself in Steve’s eyes forever.

“I love you too, Steve,” Tony said, before crushing their lips together.

Steve returned the kiss, enthusiastically at first before he tried to slow it down. Tony growled in frustration, suddenly needing Steve to take control, to block out the world and make things just about the two of them again. He ran his hands down Steve’s side, sliding underneath the elastic of his sweatpants, and rolled his hips against Steve, pressing his cock against Steve’s thigh. For one blissful second, when Steve rumbled out a moan beneath him, he thought he’d won and the two of them could spend a while fucking before Tony would, inevitably, pass out. But it didn’t seem to be his day.

Before he knew it, Steve had a hand on his chest, pushing him gently away as he broke the kiss. Tony whined and opened his eyes, ready to argue his point before Steve could pull too far away.

Steve looked at him, a fond expression on his face. His eyes were blown wide with obvious need but, for some reason that completely escaped Tony, he didn’t seem to have any intention of picking up where they left off so suddenly.

“Tony,” he whispered, reaching up to cup Tony’s face in his hands, “when was the last time you slept?”

Tony tried to make his escape, to roll off Steve and accept defeat, but Steve followed him. He propped himself up on his elbows and locked eyes with Tony.

“Get off me Rogers!”

“Nope,” Steve said, popping the “p”. “When was the last time you slept, Tony?”

Tony sighed, “Fine. About 40 hours ago.”

Steve leaned down and kissed him gently, “You need to sleep.”

 _No,_ Tony thought, _I need to get my brains fucked out of me so I can stop panicking that I’m going to leave you behind._

Instead he went with, “I know, I’d just much rather not sleep right now,” and grabbed Steve’s ass.

Steve laughed and kissed him again, this time a little longer and more heated than the last, but he still pulled away after a while.

“Me too, sweetheart, but you still look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

“Stop motherhenning me, Steve. I’m a goddamn adult. I can take care of myself.” The words were out of his mouth before he had more than a second to think about it and he instantly regretted losing his temper.

“I know you’re an adult, Tony. I’m just worried about you. That’s all.”

Tony sighed, “I know, I’m sorry. I just—it’s been a long week, Steve. I just need a break from it all.” He looked up at Steve, wishing he could find the courage to be honest, to tell him about the virus. But he couldn’t do it.

Steve smiled down at him, little crow’s feet forming at the corners of his eyes. Tony felt his heart twist at the sight. Leaving Steve behind was going to be unbearable but before he could say anything, Steve’s mouth was on his again, their bodies pressed tightly together.

Suddenly Steve’s hands were everywhere, the wet heat of his mouth trailing down Tony’s neck as he started to rut against Steve. He was finally able to disengage, able to disappear into a world alone with Steve. Able to forget for one blessed second that this was now a very short-term arrangement.

 **April 9**  
The next morning Tony woke up just as Steve pulled himself out of bed for his morning run. He groaned and readjusted himself on the bed, smashing a pillow over his face. From the other side of the room he could hear Steve chuckle.

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Tony mumbled into the pillow.

“Whatever you say, Shellhead,” Steve relied.

A second later Tony felt a warm hand on his chest as the bed dipped from Steve’s weight. He pulled the pillow off his head and was met with a face full of Steve Rogers. Steve kissed his nose quickly before leaning away to tie his shoes.

“I love you,” Tony murmured, “you know that, right?”

Steve looked back at him over his shoulder, “What’s with the sudden sappiness, Stark?”

“Have you seen what time it is, Rogers? Clearly I’m not in my right mind.”

Steve laughed, a bright happy sound that made Tony ache in the pit of his stomach. He’d always loved being the one who could make Steve laugh so easily; he hated that he would also be the one to take that away.

Steve finished tying up his shoes before leaning over the bed and kissing Tony properly on the mouth. “I love you too, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”

Tony was unconscious again before Steve’s feet hit the ground.

He woke up hours later, flat on his back, with the worst headache of his life. If this was going to be a consequence of the virus, he was going to be spending much of the next six months either heroically drunk or hopped up on painkillers. And if he wanted to keep the virus situation under wraps, that probably meant he was going to have to dial back his time with Steve, which was quite possibly the last thing he wanted to do.

Tony had barely managed to drag himself out of bed and into the kitchen when Steve appeared behind him, just back from his run.

“Hey, you.” Steve wound his arms around Tony’s waist and dropped a kiss under his ear. “Sleep well?”

“As well as can be expected,” slipped out before Tony could think better of it.

Steve stilled behind him, his arms tensing around Tony. “What do you mean, as well as can be expected?”

Tony sighed. “Nothing, Steve. It’s fine. I’m just still wound up about misplacing the Cabal, that’s all.”

“Tony,” Steve chided, “I told you it’s not your fault.”

“I know that!” Tony yelled, stepping out of Steve’s arms and turning on his heels. “It’s no one’s goddamn fault, okay? I get it. We got fucked by Galactus and now we have to go pick up the pieces. That doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

“I know you don’t have to like it but you’re going to run yourself into the ground if you keep obsessing about everything like this!”

“I’m obsessing? Where the hell have you been for the last two days? God, Steve. Don’t make it seem like me wanting to fix the SPE is an overreaction; we got fucked last time we tried to take the Cabal down and that was my fault. I’m just trying to fix something I have actual control over!”

“I’m not obsessing, Tony. I’m out in the world doing my job. Do you really think hiding in the workshop trying to fix the SPE is going to solve anything? The less predictable we are the more of a chance we have against the Cabal, or did you forget how well that worked last time?”

It was a small victory that Tony kept himself from throwing his coffee mug across the room at that. “I am not _hiding_ in the workshop, Steve. If you had such a problem with my trying to fix the SPE, why didn’t you just say something last night when I told you that’s what I was working on? Not everyone is as stubborn about this as you are; there are better ways to bring those assholes down than trying to track them down in the field. Do you really think the Skull is going to be arrogant enough to hide somewhere you’re going to find in an afternoon? We’ll be more successful if we go into this prepared rather than going in with some half-assed plan!”

“Maybe a half-assed plan is exactly what we need! Every time we’ve fought the Cabal we’ve had some detailed, well thought-out plan in place to take them down and we’ve failed every time. It’s like they know exactly what our plans are; maybe we need to go in and react!”

“Why? So one of us can end up seriously wounded, or worse, dead? That’s not an option, Steve. I can’t let that happen.”

“No, you can’t, Tony,” Steve huffed, “unless it’s you. You’re not the only acceptable loss!”

“I never said I was, Steve! God, do you even listen to me when I’m talking?”

“I listen to you all the time, Tony, but actions speak louder than words. Who decided it was in everyone’s best interest to take the Power Cosmic and lead Galactus away, consequences be damned? With no warning, I might add. Do you have any idea how terrifying that was to watch? You weren’t acting like yourself. For all I knew you were gone forever, that you’d done the math and figured your life was worth less than saving the world. Did you even consider that there might have been a better way? That maybe you don’t always have to sacrifice yourself for the greater good? We’re a team, Tony. You’re supposed to communicate!”

“There wasn’t time, Steve! It was either act in the moment and deal with the consequences later or let Galactus eat the Earth. Am I really worth that? Do you really think my life was worth more than the 7 billion people I saved?”

“Of course not! But that—”

“Then it shouldn’t matter! There wasn’t another option, Steve. Trust me.”

“I do trust you, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have talked it through and figured—”

“There wasn’t time!” Tony yelled just as Hulk and Clint came around the corner.

“You better not have eaten all my pickles, Hawkman,” Hulk warned.

“Don’t worry, buddy, there’s a whole—woah,” Clint started to back up, “Sorry guys. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“It’s fine,” Steve said, turning away from Tony, “we were finished anyway.”

Tony shot Clint a tight smile, picked up his coffee mug, and headed toward the workshop. “Don’t worry, Hulk. JARVIS restocked the pickles yesterday.”

* * *

Tony settled down at a workbench as soon as he could and tried to calm himself down. The fight with Steve had gotten way out of control and a lot of what he’d said he’d instantly regretted. He knew Steve wasn’t obsessing, that he wasn’t trying to make things worse; they were all trying to do their best to find the Cabal before it was too late. Maybe picking the fight was his subconscious way of pushing Steve away.

“J, music,” he said, pulling out a bottle of scotch and adding too much to his coffee.

“Sir, I don’t think it wise to—”

“I don’t want to hear it, J.”

Tony turned in his chair and let the sounds of “Back in Black” drown out the rest of the world.

 **April 12**  
Three days. For three days Tony hid in the workshop, slowly drinking his way through more bottles of scotch than he was willing to admit. Steve had given him space, arguably too much of it. He’d managed to make significant progress on the next generation of the StarkPhone; at the very least Pepper would be happy with him. He was completely lost in rewriting a few lines of code when JARVIS startled him back to reality.

“Captain Rogers is on his way down, sir.”

“Thanks, J,” Tony said, closing his eyes. He knew he was acting like a child, that pushing Steve away wouldn’t fix anything. But he couldn't bring himself to stop. It was selfish, but it was easier this way.

“Tony,” Steve called a few moments later from the doorway, “can we talk, please?”

Tony turned in his chair to face Steve and the moment took his breath away; he hadn’t realized how lonely he’d been feeling until just then.

He cleared his throat, “Ah, yeah. Probably a good idea.”

Steve smiled and crossed the room, grabbing a stool as he went. He set it down in front of Tony—a few feet left between them—and leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. “The other day in the kitchen, I think we both said a lot of things we didn’t mean.”

Tony smiled tightly, “Yeah, not my finest moment. I’m sorry I yelled.”

Steve shifted uncomfortably on the stool, “Me too. But I still think we need to talk about it.”

Tony sighed and spun the chair back to face away from Steve. “You’re probably right, but we’re just going to end up screaming at each other again.”

“Tony,” Steve whispered, almost in disbelief, “Of course we will because you won’t sleep. Trying to have a rational conversation with you when you’re sleep-deprived is like trying to explain to a toddler why they can’t have another cookie. I’m just trying to do what’s right and you’re going to do nothing but yell at me and then we’ll both be upset. Can you just come upstairs with me and take a break? You’ve been down here for three days.”

Tony dropped his head into his hands, trying to fight against the headache he could feel creeping up his neck. “Steve, I told you this three days ago. I’m not a child and I don’t need you to hang over me and make sure I eat my vegetables.”

He felt a warm hand on the back of his neck as Steve tried to massage the tension out of his shoulders. “I know that, Tony. But I’m worried about you. Something’s off and I can’t figure it out.”

“I’m just tired, Steve. It’s fine. Maybe I just need more recovery time from the Power Cosmic; I don’t know.”

Steve signed behind him, “I want to believe you, I do. But I can’t fight the feeling that something’s seriously wrong.”

“Damn it, Steve,” Tony said as he shrugged away from his touch, “I’m fine. Why can’t you just accept that and leave me alone about it.”

“Mostly because I know you well enough to know that _if_ something was wrong, and I’m still pretty sure there is, that you wouldn’t tell me out of some misplaced need to protect me from it.”

“Steve, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. You should really be focusing on the Cabal.”

“Babe,” Steve said, spinning Tony around in his seat and kneeling in front of him, “please don’t shut me out.” He set both hands on either side of Tony’s face, locking eyes with him. “You know you can tell me anything. What’s wrong?”

Tony shut his eyes, trying to push down the swell of emotions threatening to overtake him. He could either come clean and tell Steve about the virus or he could double down on being an ass and keep it to himself. “I’m _fine_ , Steve. We just need to focus on tracking the Skull.”

“Tony,” Steve said patiently, “will you just look at me for a second, please?”

Against his better judgement, Tony found himself locking eyes with Steve. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears as he looked helplessly back at Tony and it took everything Tony had in him not to fess up. But lying to Steve, especially when he already knew something was up, was never easy and he’d done a fantastic job of getting himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Why couldn’t he have just acted normal, like dying was just something one does at some point in their lives. Like learning to drive or graduating high school. No, instead he had to be a giant baby about the whole thing and make things more difficult.

Tony looked helplessly down at Steve, his focus jumping from Steve’s eyes to the worry lines on his forehead, down to the slight frown he was wearing. He knew this was the moment and he needed to own what happened, to tell Steve the truth, but he couldn’t find the courage. He looked down at the face of the man he loved, so obviously worried about him and in pain, and he couldn't bring himself to make things worse. Steve deserved better.

“I—” Tony started and Steve closed his eyes in obvious frustration at his tone. He knew Tony wasn’t going to tell him from one goddamn word. “Steve, I’m fine.”

Steve dropped his head, gripping Tony’s knees as if to keep himself from falling backwards. He took a few deep breaths before looking back up at Tony, the tears finally spilling over. He sniffed a little and scrubbed the tears away before standing up.

“When you’re ready to tell me what’s wrong, and don’t think for one second that I believe any of the bullshit you’re trying to pull, come find me. I wanted to tell you that Fury has another mission for us, a few leads to follow on the Cabal, and I’ll probably be gone for close to a week. I was hoping we could figure out whatever this is and spend some time together before I go. But I don’t think it’s a good idea; at least not until you’re willing to tell me the truth,” Steve said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He locked eyes with Tony again, his eyes rimmed in red, “Whatever’s wrong, we can fix it, Tony. Together. I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn but there isn’t anything you and I can’t figure out together. I love you and I hate that you’re shutting me out.”

And with that, Steve turned on his heels and left the workshop. The minute the doors sealed behind him, Tony threw the StarkPhone prototype he’d spent the last three days upgrading across the room; it shattered into pieces against the wall.

He got up, torn between chasing after Steve and drinking himself into oblivion.

The scotch was a hell of a lot closer.  
—  
When Tony finally came back to himself, he couldn’t recognize where in the workshop he’d passed out. Or why the floor was so soft. Or how he was suddenly in nothing but his boxers tucked into a bed. Realization finally dawned on him and he rolled over, searching his room for any sign of Steve, but he was alone. There was a glass of water, a pill bottle, and a sticky note waiting for him on the nightstand but that was the only trace of Steve he could find.

He downed several pills with a quick swig of water before he got the courage up to read the note. He knew he wasn’t going to like it but what the hell. In for a penny, in for a pound.

_Tony,  
I know you’re not ready to tell me whatever it is that’s bothering you so much and I’m sorry that we keep fighting about it. I wish you’d let me in, but I understand that sometimes you need time to process before you can tell me, so I’m going to give you the space you need. I’ve already left to go hunt down the leads Nat found in Europe and I probably won’t be back for a while. I think some distance is a good idea for both of us right now. If you need me I’ll be on coms. _

_I love you._

Tony flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The RT made the whole room glow a dull blue color and it was oddly calming. Almost the same color as Steve’s suit. He crumpled the note in his hand, hating that Steve was right. Distance was exactly what they needed. 

 **May 6**  
The longer the meeting went on the more difficulty Steve was having paying attention. He had been away for more than three weeks hunting down leads in Europe and he was antsy to get back to the tower; to get back to Tony. The two of them hadn’t talked since he left and it was eating at him. It seemed like every time Steve tried to call Tony either ignored his calls or refused to let JARVIS put him through so after a week Steve stopped trying to call and started texting. He was staring at his phone lying on the table, obsessing over the long line of unanswered text messages, when his phone rang. He scrambled to silence it before it interrupted the debriefing but, in his haste, managed to knock it to the ground instead.

“I’m so sorry, Captain. It seems we’re keeping you from some kind of pressing social engagement,” Fury snapped just as Steve popped his head back up from under the table, his phone successfully silenced in his hand.

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t realize the ringer was on.”

Fury glared at him in response, “Shut it off or leave the room. We don’t need to deal with your personal bullshit while we try to work out how to take down the Cabal.”

“Yes, sir,” Steve said and stood up. Pepper’s call had gone to voicemail and she only ever called when something was up with Tony. Steve grabbed his things, turned on his heels, and stormed from the room. Natasha was more than capable of debriefing Fury on her own and he had much more important problems to deal with in the form of Tony’s not so subtle breakdown. He wasted no time punching in the password to his voicemail as soon as the door swung shut behind him.

 _“Steve,”_ Pepper said, sounding exhausted, _“this is Pepper. I was calling to see if you had any idea what’s been going on with Tony. I haven’t been able to get in contact with him for three days. He won’t answer my calls, he hasn’t responded to a single email, and JARVIS informs me that he’s been prohibited from telling anyone about Tony’s current status. I know you’re busy with the Cabal and I wouldn’t bother you, we both know how Tony gets when he’s lost in a world of engineering, but we have an investor meeting tomorrow morning he’s agreed to attend and if he doesn’t show up it could mean disaster for Stark Industries. I’m on my way as we speak and should be in New York in a few hours. If I don’t hear from you by the time I land, I’m hunting him down in the workshop and I’ll pull him out by his ears if I have to. Please call me back."_

He felt his pulse start to race as he listened to her message; even at his most distracted Tony’d always allowed JARVIS to give them updates on his well being. He’d known something was bothering Tony, that he’d been harsh on himself since the Galactus incident, but this felt different. Something was seriously wrong if Pepper thought she needed to reach out.

He raced down the hallway, hitting redial as he went. Pepper answered on the third ring.

“ _Steve,_ ” she said calmly, “ _thank you for calling me back._ ”

“Thanks for calling,” Steve breathed as he jogged down the stairs, “We haven’t talked since I left three weeks ago though so I’m not going to be very helpful.”

“ _You left him!?_ ” Pepper shrieked, “ _What the hell—_ ”

“No!” Steve shouted over her, “I didn’t leave him! God, I would never do that to him. I had a mission overseas, that’s all.”

“ _Oh,_ ” Pepper sounded embarrassed, “ _I—sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions but Tony hiding out after a breakup isn’t too far off brand for him._ ”

“No, I understand. It’s fine. I should have worded it better. He won’t answer any of my calls either. Or texts. Something was off before I left and I thought space would do him good, I just had no idea I was going to be gone for three weeks.”

“ _When are you heading back to New York?_ ”

“I was in a debriefing meeting with Fury on the Tricarrier but I’m leaving now. I should be back at the tower in less than fifteen minutes.”

“ _Something’s wrong, Steve._ ”

“I know,” Steve’s voice caught in his throat. He couldn’t shake the feeling that things had taken a serious turn for the worse while he was gone. “I thought he needed space but I’m worried all I’ve done is fuck everything up worse.”

Pepper sighed quietly, “ _You’re doing your best, Steve. That’s all you can do._ ”

Steve rounded the corner, finally out on the deck of the Tricarrier, and hopped on a skycycle. “I’m on my way to the tower. I’ll call you when I know something.”

“ _Thanks, Steve,_ ” Pepper said and disconnected the call.

* * *

He tried to collect his thoughts on the way back to the tower; he and Tony hadn’t left things in a good place and now things were bad enough that Pepper was involved. Whatever the hell had happened, whatever Tony’s reasons for pushing all the most important people away, it stopped now. Steve was determined to end this insanity once and for all—the consequences be damned.

Steve pulled the skycycle into the Avengers private garage around the back of the tower, punched the call button for the elevator, and took a minute to calm down. He knew he needed to needle the truth out of Tony, knew that he couldn’t continue to let Tony act like nothing was wrong, but he wasn’t looking forward to forcing it out of him. They’d had some intense fights in the past and arguing with Tony was the last thing he wanted to do. They hadn’t seen each other, much less talked, in three weeks. In a perfect world Steve would drag Tony out of the workshop, force some food into him, and end up tangled together on their bed for a week.

“Welcome home, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS greeted him as soon as the elevator doors opened. “I hope your mission went well.”

“Thanks, JARVIS. It went as well as can be expected. Where’s Tony?”

“Sir is currently on the main level,” JARVIS answered in a disapproving tone that set Steve’s nerves on edge.

“Alright,” he said hesitantly, “can you take me up, please?”

JARVIS stayed quiet as the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Is Tony alright?”

JARVIS sighed, or made a noise somewhat comparable to a sigh, “Sir is as well as can be expected.”

That was unexpected. “What do you mean by ‘as can be expected’, JARVIS?”

“I’m afraid Sir has asked I not divulge that information. Most of all to you, Captain.”

“You know what’s wrong?”

“I’m afraid I do, Captain.”

“But you won’t tell me.”

“Sir expressly forbid me from informing you.”

The elevator came to a halt, the doors slid open, and Steve’s heart fell into his stomach. The tower was completely destroyed and, by the looks of it, it had been a recent occurrence.

Hulk was spread eagle, unconscious on the floor, a dozen empty jars of pickles littered around him. What was left of the kitchen was still smouldering and Clint was hanging upside down from the light fixture over the stairs. Steve found himself frozen just outside the elevator, torn between nervous laughter and outright rage; what the hell happened here? He was just about to storm off to find Tony when a goat, a goddamn goat, came running down the hall and decided the kneepad on his suit seemed like an appropriate lunch and started gnawing on his leg. And wasn’t that just the icing on the cake.

“Well, if it isn’t Captain No Fun.”

Steve spun around to find Tony standing, with a chicken tucked up under his arm and a pig at his heels, just a few feet behind him. Not only was Tony more drunk than Steve had ever seen him, but whatever he’d been up to had him donned in his speedo, flippers, a paper party hat, and for some reason that completely eluded Steve’s understanding, a lei. Steve felt the urge to laugh bubble up again but he stamped it down. If he and Tony were ever going to get to the bottom of this he couldn't indulge this—whatever the hell it was.

“Tony,” Steve said, sounding surprisingly calm, “what’s going on?”

“I was having a bit of fun. Why? Is that suddenly not allowed, Captain?”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. Rise. Above.

“Unbunch your panties, Steve-o. This is all supposed to be a laugh. Clint and Hulk certainly enjoyed themselves.”

“Tony,” Steve tried again, “put the chicken down so we can talk.”

Tony rolled his eyes but set the chicken down without a fight. “There. Happy?”

Not remotely. Steve untangled himself from the goat, grabbed Tony by the elbow, and dragged him up the stairs. “I’ll be happy when you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Well,” Tony started, “The pickles Hulk owed Hawkeye finally showed up today and—”

Steve cut him off, “I’m not talking about whatever the hell you did to the tower, Tony. I want to know what is going on with you.” He pulled Tony into their bedroom, latching the door behind them.

“I’m fine, Steve.”

“Oh my god, Tony! It’s pretty clear to anyone with eyes that you are anything _but_ fine. You—” Steve took a breath. Tony only ever got defensive when he yelled. If they were going to fix this, and they were absolutely going to fix this to-fucking-day, he had to keep a level head. “Just, will you take off that ridiculous outfit so we can talk, please?”

“Spoilsport,” Tony grumbled before making his way over to the bed. He nearly fell face first into the mattress but caught himself at the last second and managed to sprawl out on his back.

Steve ducked into their closet, looking for Tony’s robe, and emerged less than a minute later to find Tony completely naked staring up at the ceiling. Steve crossed the room and set the robe down on the bed next to Tony. He found himself torn between wanting to curl up in the bed with Tony and just enjoy that they were together again and to run and hide somewhere downstairs. He’d figured that giving Tony the space he thought he needed was clearly the wrong thing to do but he was starting to worry that whatever damage it had caused was irreparable; he’d never seen Tony this far off the rails. He settled on a happy medium instead and leaned against the wall opposite the bed.

“Tony?”

“Yeeeeaaaaah?” Tony drawled.

“What’s wrong?”

Tony groaned. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

“Because I came home after being gone for three weeks to find you drunk in the middle of the day with two thirds of a petting zoo running free around the tower. What the hell am I supposed to think?”

“Maybe that I wanted to have some fun?” Tony snapped. Tony’s gaze met Steve’s and he could see a fear there that he hadn’t noticed before.

“Can you, for one second, cut the bullshit and be honest with me? Something is clearly wrong and I’m not going to let you lie your way out of this. Tell me.”

“Nope,” Tony said. He stood up, threw his robe on, and made to leave the room but he wasn’t fast enough. Steve jumped between him and the door before he could make an escape.

“Tony,” Steve said, hating how small his voice sounded, “please? We can figure this out together. You just have to tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m too sober for this conversation. Let me out.”

“No. We need to talk.”

“Well how about you follow me down to the ‘shop and we can talk all you want down there.”

“If I follow you down there, you promise me you’ll tell me what’s wrong?”

Tony mumbled something he couldn't quite make out before flashing Steve his press smile. “You betcha, Cap.”

Steve stepped out of the way and let Tony lead both of them down the the workshop. Where Tony promptly poured himself a drink and rounded on Steve.

“You wanna know the truth?” Tony stumbled a little as he said it. He looked all at once sad and terrified and Steve ached to comfort him.

“More than anything, Tony. It doesn’t matter what’s happened. We can fix it.”

“Steve, I have six months to live... and I want you to teach me to do the jitterbug,” Tony said, before bursting out laughing.

“I—stop laughing, Tony. That’s not funny.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Tony said, sobering himself up, “the jitterbug is terrible. What about the Charleston?”

“Damnit, Tony. Stop making this into a joke and tell me what’s wrong.”

The light died in Tony’s eyes, he set his drink down, and stumbled to stand in front of Steve. He hesitated for a minute, almost as if he was unsure he was welcome to stand that close anymore. Without thinking Steve put his arms around Tony’s waist and pulled him closer so their foreheads rested against each other. He ran a hand over Tony’s back, hoping it was somewhat of a comfort.

“Tony,” he breathed, “I can tell you’re scared and it’s okay. I keep trying to tell you we can beat whatever’s wrong together. I just need you to trust me enough to tell me what it is.”

“Trusting you isn’t the problem, Steve.”

“Then what is it?” Tony tried to pull away but Steve tightened his grip. “No, Tony. Tell me.”

“I already did, Steve.”

Steve wracked his brain, trying to remember everything Tony had said since they’d been down in the workshop and came up empty.

“No you didn’t. You joked about me teaching you to dance.”

“Yeah, because I panicked as soon as I told you I have six months left to live.”

Steve froze, felt his heart skip a beat—Tony couldn’t be dying. There was no way this was happening. He tried to say something, anything to comfort Tony, but he couldn’t make a sound. HIs voice got stuck in his throat. He pulled Tony in tighter, held on for dear life, as he tried to process everything.

“I wanted to tell you before you left for Europe but I chickened out. I didn’t want to be the reason for you to make that face, Steve. I—you can’t know how much you mean to me and I didn’t want me dying to be a downer for you so I figured if I pushed you away it’d be easier for both of us. Which it damn well wasn’t, by the way.”

“Tony,” Steve said wetly, “pushing me away was never going to work.”

“Yeah, I know that _now_. The last three weeks have been miserable. I missed you constantly. I wanted to call you every damn day but I told myself you needed the space; maybe if you spent three weeks being mad at me you’d come back and realize I wasn’t what you wanted anyway and I could die quietly. No one would have noticed and the world would have kept spinning.”

It took everything in him for Steve not to burst into tears; how on earth could Tony think he would have died and no one would have cared nor noticed?

“Pepper would have noticed, Tony. The whole team would have noticed. We need you, you have to know that. We wouldn’t even be a team right now if you hadn’t pulled us all back together.”

“Doesn’t matter. The SPE doesn’t work, we’ve lost the Cabal again… It’s all my fault, Steve. The team works but I don’t need to be a part of it; I just fuck everything up.”

Steve pulled back just far enough to look Tony in the eye, “No you don’t. The SPE is flawed but that doesn’t mean you can’t fix it. The Cabal getting a head start has absolutely nothing to do with you or anything you could have controlled, and you’re anything but a fuck-up. We’ve always need you. I’ve always need you.”

Tony looked back at him, tears falling thick down his face. Steve took his face in both hands, his thumbs running over Tony’s cheekbones.

“I’ll always need you, Tony. I keep telling you that I love you; you’re the most important person in my life. Why don’t you believe me yet?”

“I do, Steve. That’s the problem. I’m going to break you.”

“No, Tony. You remade me. And there’s no guarantee that you’re going to die. I already told you. We can fix this together.”

“No we can’t, Steve,” Tony said, dropping his gaze. “There’s no cure for this.”

“What is ‘this’, exactly?”

“Some virus thanks to the Power Cosmic. It’s attacking my circulatory system and, according to JARVIS, I have six months before my heart gives out.”

“Okay,” Steve said, feeling a bitterness creep into his heart as the reality of the situation set in. He was going to lose Tony, the love of his life, to a virus neither of them knew anything about because Tony had been selfless enough to save the Earth—and the seven billion people that live on it—from Galactus. He wiped the tears from his face, determined to be a source of strength for Tony in the coming months. “Okay, we can deal with this.”

Tony smiled sadly. “Let me guess, together?”

“Now you’re getting it.” Steve returned the smile and pulled Tony close to his chest again. “When was the last time you slept?”

“I don’t know.”

“If I may interject,” JARVIS said quietly, “Sir has been awake for 32.5 hours.”

“Alright,” Steve said, pulling away from Tony again, “naptime. Let’s go.”

Tony hesitated, swaying a bit where he stood, “I, um, can’t.”

“You need to sleep, Tony.”

“I can’t sleep alone, Steve. I—it’s—I hate it.”

Steve kissed Tony’s forehead. “We’re both taking a nap. I haven’t slept in three days.”

“Oh,” Tony suddenly sounded very tired, “alright then.”

 **May 7**  
What Steve had intended to be a nap turned into an entire night's worth of sleep and he woke up the following morning with Tony settled comfortably over his chest, their legs tangled together. The moment felt peaceful, so unlike the last few weeks of their lives, and he reveled in it for a while. Watching Tony sleep was a luxury he was rarely afforded and, especially now, he didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He ran his fingers through Tony’s hair, wishing for all the world that time would stand still; that the universe would just give them this moment forever.

Reality set in a few minutes later when Tony started to stir, his breathing became shallow and somewhat labored and Steve winced when he realized it was from pain. He ran a soothing hand down Tony’s spine, smiling slightly when Tony shivered at his touch, and kissed the top of his head.

“Morning.”

Tony grumbled something unintelligible.

“How much pain are you in?”

“Enough,” Tony muttered.

“This is why you picked up drinking again, isn’t it?”

Tony hummed in response.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, Steve?”

“We have to find a better way for you to handle the pain.”

“I know. I” Tony pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing as he went, “I don’t want to waste what time we have left.”

Steve cupped Tony’s cheek in his hand, rubbing soft circles over his cheekbones, “Thank you.”

Tony leaned in and kissed him gently, nothing hurried or leading. They both seemed content just to exist in the same space for the time being. After a while Tony rested his forehead against Steve’s, his breathing uneven again.

“I love you,” Tony said as he settled back against Steve’s chest.

“I love you, too, Tony.”

“Steve?”

Steve hummed in response, content with threading his fingers back through Tony’s hair.

“I think I need to take a step back from the team. I shouldn’t be Iron Man anymore.”

Steve hated to think of it; hated just hearing the idea of it. But he knew Tony was right. The virus was causing too much pain, there was always the risk that he would deteriorate faster if he exerted himself that much, and he would be a liability in the field. It was for the best. Even if every fiber of his being screamed how wrong it was.

“I hate that,” Steve said, his voice wavering again.

“It’s not like I’m in love with the idea either; but it’s too much of a risk. I can’t do that to you or the team.”

“I know,” tears threatened to spill over again as he realised this was the end of Iron Man. He never have his best friend in the field again those days were officially behind them. “We’re going to have to tell the rest of the team.”

“Yeah,” Tony breathed.

“I’m going to miss you, Shellhead,” Steve said, wrapping both his arms around the one thing in this life that he wasn’t sure he could live through losing.

“It’ll be alright, Steve. The team’s good together and Sam and Thor will still be there so you’ll have aerial support. I’ll keep”

Steve cut him off, “Tony, stop. I don’t care about any of that.”

Tony sighed and nuzzled in closer. “I know, I just don’t want to deal with any of that right now. It’s easier if we just focus on getting through telling the team and deal with my imminent demise later.”

“Don’t” Steve started, before Tony cut him off with a kiss.

“Just for now, sweetheart,” Tony said against his lips. “We need to go tell the team and we need to find a way to get Thor back sooner rather than later. We’re really going to need him now.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, hating how gruff his voice sounded, “I’ll call Fury and see if we can figure out a way to get in contact with him.”

* * *

They gathered the team, minus Thor who was off planet, in the living room. Tony insisted on telling them alone but asked that Steve stay close for support. They both knew this wouldn’t be easy, Tony never liked to admit weakness, but it needed to be done and the sooner the better.

“So that’s pretty much the gist. Steve and I talked about it and I’m giving up Iron Man. It’s too much of a risk and I don’t want to be the reason for any mistakes made in the field. We’re trying to get the message out to Thor; he’s the best option we have for a heavy hitter if I’m not going to be around.”

“This is insane,” Clint said, “There’s no way this is going to work without you. You’re _sure_ there isn’t a cure?”

“JARVIS can’t even identify the virus. All we know is that the Power Cosmic caused it; which is totally typical. I save the world and this kind of shit happens.”

“But you’re going to stay on coms, correct?” Natasha asked.

“We” Tony looked over at Steve, almost like he was asking permission.

“Yes,” Steve said, kicking himself for not thinking of that earlier. At the very least he’d still have Tony in his ear. Suddenly this whole mess seemed mildly less terrifying.

Natasha rolled her eyes, “I can’t believe the two of you didn’t think of that earlier.”

“Fair point,” Tony smiled tightly. “Are we done here now? I have a killer headache.”

“We’re done,” Steve said, waving him off.

Tony crossed the room to Steve and wrapped his arms around him before planting a kiss on his cheek and resting his head on Steve’s shoulder. Steve pulled him closer and sighed. It was a strange feeling to both be relieved to finally know what was wrong and terribly sad at the prospect of losing Tony.

“I love you,” Tony mumbled against his neck. He leaned up and kissed Steve behind the ear before pulling away. “I’m going to head down to the ‘shop and spend some time tinkering.”

“I love you too, Tony. I’ll be down in a bit,” Steve said and pulled Tony in for a gentle kiss. “Don’t over do it.”

“I never do,” Tony joked before untangling himself from Steve and heading toward the workshop.

* * *

Steve retreated back to their bedroom to call Fury. This wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to but they needed Thor and they were out of options. He took a minute, making sure his voice sounded level before changing his mind at the last second and calling Hill. She answered on the third ring.

“Hill.”

“This is Captain Rogers.”

“What can I help you with, Captain?”

“I need to know how SHIELD normally contacts Thor.”

“As you and Mr. Stark have so often reminded me, Thor is a member of _your_ team and as such he has never volunteered any information that would allow us to contact him while he is off planet.”

“You’re asking me to believe SHIELD’s never gone out of its way to _try_?”

“I’m sorry, Captain. I can’t help you.”

Steve sighed, “Alright. Thank you for your time.”

Hill disconnected the call without another word.

Steve tossed his phone on the bed and slumped down. With no way of contacting Thor they were going to be in serious trouble next time they were called out. Who was he kidding? They were in serious trouble as it wa; the Cabal was still out there somewhere running wild with the Tesseract. Suddenly the enormity of their situation overwhelmed him and Steve wanted nothing more than to punch something.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Will you let Tony know I’m going down to the gym. I’ll come find him in a few hours.”

There was a short pause. “Sir would like to know if you made contact with Director Fury.”

“Tell him I talked to Hill and there’s nothing SHIELD can do for us.” And with that Steve stood, quickly changed into his workout gear and fled to the gym.

* * *

There was something about the soft, rhythmic thump of his fists against the punching bag that always managed to calm him down. He could lose himself in the steady beat; it centered him. He’d been at it for hours—long enough his knuckles had started to bleed—by the time Tony came to find him. Steve noticed him appear in the doorway but didn’t do anything about it. .

“You’ve been down here for hours, Steve.”

Steve grunted in response and hit the bag harder. Tony shut the door behind him before he crossed the room, weaving his way through various exercise equipment scattered around.

“Come on, Steve. It’s way past time to eat.”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not,” Tony sighed and ran a hand down Steve’s back.

Steve shuddered and leaned against the bag. He felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin; he hated how helpless he was.

Tony moved in closer, wrapping his arms around Steve. “You can’t beat yourself up about this, Steve. None of it’s your fault. Thor will show up again and we’ll just have to manage as best we can until then.”

Steve wanted to scream; to rail against everything he had no control over. What was the point of any of this—the point behind being locked in the ice for 70 plus years—if the universe was going to be an asshole and take away the best thing in his life. He wanted a do over; if he’d known about the Power Cosmic _he_ could have taken Tony’s place. Maybe the serum would have taken care of the virus and they could have avoided this all together.

Tony stepped in closer, nuzzling into Steve’s neck. “Come on, babe. Let it go. Clint ordered pizza.”

“I’m not in the mood for pizza.”

“Okay. What are you in the mood for? I can have JARVIS order it for us.”

Steve responded by turning in Tony’s arms, pulling them flush against each other, and kissing him. Tony laughed, obviously caught off guard, before melting into Steve’s touch. Steve backed them up against the nearest wall and deepened the kiss, doing his best to completely lose himself in Tony’s mouth. Tony kissed him back just as enthusiastically, both fighting for control for several minutes before Tony’s breathing became too labored and he pulled away. Undeterred, Steve moved down his neck.

“Did you lock the door?” Steve asked between kisses.

Tony moaned softly. “No.”

“To hell with it,” Steve breathed before sliding a hand under Tony’s ass, earning an undignified squawk. He no longer cared if they got caught.

 **May 23**  
The next several weeks went by largely without incident. They were called out on two different emergencies; once to shut down the Circus of Crime and another time to reign in Justin Hammer’s ever growing ego yet again. According to plan, Tony stayed behind and monitored the missions on coms and both times Steve found himself wishing Iron Man had been in the field with them. Thor had yet to return and it was surprisingly difficult to adjust to only having Sam in the air but they managed.

Thankfully Tony hadn’t gotten much worse. He still had massive headaches that would put him out of commission, sometimes for days at a time, but they’d managed to treat them with painkillers courtesy of SHIELD. Fury had been surprisingly supportive when he’d finally been brought up to speed; he’d even offered to have Tony transferred to the Tricarrier to manage his pain but they declined. Tony wanted to spend what little time was left at home.

Steve found himself needing more time alone; he wanted to spend every second he could with Tony but the situation was so emotionally draining he needed time away to recharge. He needed to be stronger than he felt; needed to be someone Tony could count on for the time he had left. He’d taken to hiding in a corner of the library to sketch in the afternoons when Tony was sleeping off a headache.  
He’d lost himself in a sketch of Tony’s hands again when he was startled by a familiar voice.

“Captain.”

Steve looked up from his sketchbook to find Loki, complete with his antlered helmet, standing less than three feet from him.

“What the hell are you doing here, Loki?”

“I came to do you a favor but I’m more than willing to leave if you’d rather.”

“What do you mean ‘you came here to do me a favor’?”

“I hear Stark is ill.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

Loki scoffed. “You forget that Heimdall sees all. He seemed to think it was necessary to inform my brother about Stark’s little problem and Thor felt the need to relay that information to me. He’s under the impression that I could be of some assistance to your little band of heroes.”

“What are you saying?”

“That I can cure Stark.”

Steve suddenly couldn’t breathe. There was absolutely no reason for Loki to offer to help any of them. There was always some sort of catch. But to hell with it. Tony was dying and Steve had hit the point where he no longer cared about consequences.

“What’s in it for you? You hate Thor. All you’ve ever done is try to make our lives harder.”

“I don’t think you _need_ to know ‘what’s in it for me’, Captain. Just take the olive branch I’m extending and save your little boy toy already.”

“Tony is not my _boy toy_.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Can we just get this over with? I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.”

Steve stood up but kept his distance. “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Will you please tell Tony he needs to come to the library. Immediately?”

Loki smiled sardonically at him. “Not interested in parading me around for your friends?”

“I can’t be held responsible for Hulk. Do you really want to go say hi to everyone?”

Loki frowned.

“JARVIS woke me up the second this weasel appeared,” Tony said from the door.

“Then you’ll know I’m here to save you, Stark,” Loki yawned almost as if he was bored of the conversation.

Tony stepped in the room, latched the door closed behind him, and crossed the room to stand next to Steve. “What’s in it for you, psycho?”

“No need to be nasty, Stark. I simply wish to help. And if your little boy band ends up owing me in the end then so be it.”

“I’m not sure I want to owe you anything, Loki,” Tony glared at the god across the room.

“Tony,” Steve whispered, “please?”

Tony intertwined his fingers with Steve’s and squeezed his hand encouragingly. “This is worth it to you?”

“I’d give Loki my shield if it meant he’d save you,” Steve said and he found that he meant it. He was willing to do almost anything if it meant Tony was going to be okay.

“I don’t want your frisbee, Captain. Can we get on with this now?”

“Alright,” Tony said, “where do you want me?”

Loki snapped his fingers. “Done.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Steve said indignantly.

“Steve,” Tony squeezed his hand again, “my headache is gone.”

They both turned back to thank Loki but the room was empty. It was just the two of them.

“JARVIS?” Tony said.

“Yes, sir?”

“Get everything ready. We’re doing the tests again.”

“Already done, sir.”

* * *

JARVIS confirmed several hours later that, infact, Loki’d done as he said he did. Tony was cured. The virus was gone and Steve felt like he could actually breathe for the first time in weeks. They still had the Cabal to deal with; the Skull still had the Tesseract and they still had no idea what he was planning to do with it. Steve pulled him in for a burning kiss. He ran his hands all over Tony, needing to reassure himself that they were both still there; everything was going to be fine.

“We should really go tell the team,” Tony said against his lips.

“No,” Steve practically growled, “we can tell them later.”

Tony laughed, a bright happy sound that made Steve’s heart feel lighter than it had in weeks. “Alright. But maybe we should move this upstairs?”

Steve pulled away, cupping Tony’s face in both his hands. “No way. JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Please inform the team that Tony’s been cured thanks to Loki and lock the workshop down.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Steve leaned in, catching Tony’s lips again in a burning kiss and walked them toward the cot in the corner.

* * *

 “I hate to bother you, sir.” JARVIS said several hours later.

Tony was sprawled out over Steve, kissing his way down his chest. “Then don’t” he said, before biting the underside of Steve’s jaw. Steve bucked against him and Tony smiled. Mission accomplished.

“I wouldn’t sir, but it seems the Red Skull has made an appearance.”

Tony slumped against Steve’s chest. That asshole had the worst timing in the world.

“Where?” Steve asked.

“I’ve sent the coordinates to your StarkPhone, Captain. General Fury has asked that you kindly respond to the threat.”

Tony jumped off the cot, dragging Steve up with him, and headed for the armor. “Go suit up. I’ll meet you upstairs.”

Steve kissed him quickly. “It’s good to have you back, Iron Man.”

Tony smile and flicked on the coms. “Avengers, assemble!”

**Author's Note:**

> See... Just this once, nobody dies!


End file.
